Rules for obtaining a USSR passport in 2021

The collapse of the multinational country of the Soviets was accompanied by global changes. They also affected the passport regime. Currently, the majority of residents of our Motherland use new-style identity cards. No matter how strange the desire to exchange them for documents of the bygone Soviet Union may seem, such a decision is considered legal. These days, tens of thousands of Russians continue to use passports of a non-existent state, and some are interested in how to get a USSR passport instead of a Russian passport.

Rules for obtaining a USSR passport in 2021

Despite the fact that the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics collapsed quite a long time ago, many people to this day use passports received at that time, without intending to exchange them for new ones.

In accordance with the current legislation, such a decision is not unlawful, since according to the law, civil passports issued according to old models retain their legal force in our time.

However, many citizens are wondering how to obtain a USSR passport in 2021 and whether this procedure can be carried out at all.

Without ID

What to do if a citizen, due to health or age, cannot change his USSR passport? Is it possible to do without this? It has already been said that this document does not have to be exchanged. This is only necessary in certain cases. But if a person has a situation in which he really has to change his passport (for example, wear and tear or loss), then the process cannot be avoided.

It is allowed to write a power of attorney for a close relative to help in drawing up the document. But it is the real applicant who must pick it up - he puts his signature. This is a mandatory procedure.

You can also ask relatives or close people to help register on the State Services portal and use the electronic submission of an application for a new type of passport. Again, you will have to pick up the document yourself.

You can't live without an ID card. Therefore, you will have to figure out how to draw up the document. Otherwise, it will not be possible to establish the person’s identity. As a result, the citizen will not be able to use state and social security services.

The main provisions of preparation

In order not to encounter various difficulties or delays during this operation, you should prepare for it in advance by completing all the necessary steps.

Options for regaining your citizenship

Some people today are seriously thinking about how to get a USSR passport instead of a Russian passport, considering Russian citizenship to be illegitimate. In accordance with current legislation, the citizenship of each person is certified by his personal passport.

At the moment, it is possible to print out USSR passport forms by first sending a corresponding application to the FSUE Goznak, however, this organization requires an order in a circulation of 2021 copies.

Moreover, they cannot provide documents with unique watermarks of the USSR, and therefore the seals will have to be cast independently, and therefore the cost of each form will reach approximately 7,000 rubles.

The main difficulty is that there will be no one to sign the passport and put a stamp, since today the USSR Passport and Visa Service does not operate.

However, in practice, you can obtain a certificate confirming Soviet citizenship from the territorial branch of the migration service.

To do this, you will need to write a corresponding application to the territorial department of the migration service, indicating a request for the issuance of such a certificate, as well as writing your full name, residential address, date of birth, as well as the following data:

on what basis was a passport confirming Russian citizenship previously issued;
whether the applicant was a citizen of the USSR, and if so, on the basis of what regulations;
whether an application for renunciation of USSR citizenship was submitted in accordance with the established form;
whether Russian citizenship was issued or withdrawal from the list of citizens of this state.

For information, it is worth attaching the relevant certificates to the submitted application in order to speed up the work of civil servants. It is also recommended to attach a copy of the second and third pages of your existing Russian passport.

Which copy should you count on?

The State Duma Committee dealing with the affairs of nationalities is going to introduce a bill according to which citizens living in the territory of the former USSR will be able to obtain Russian citizenship under simplified conditions if they have ancestors born on the territory of this state or were themselves born in Russia .

It is possible to obtain a residence permit without the need for documentary evidence of the fact that they previously renounced the citizenship of another state.

This procedure is provided exclusively for those who lived themselves or had relatives who permanently resided in the territory of Russia or those regions that previously belonged to the USSR or the Russian Empire.

Questions about the validity of the document

In accordance with current legislation, passports of citizens of the USSR, issued in accordance with the 2021 samples, remain in legal force to this day. Moreover, the territorial migration service authorities must paste new photographs and put all the necessary marks in such documents in accordance with the standards established by the USSR Council of Ministers.

This opportunity could only be used by those citizens who were born before 2021, that is, those persons who, before the start of the passport reform, had already reached the age of 45 and had pasted in a new photograph.

Otherwise, according to Soviet passport regulations, their identification documents automatically lost their legal validity once citizens turned 25 or 45 years old.

At the same time, migration service employees in every possible way refused to paste new photographs of citizens into Soviet passports, and the courts recognized such decisions as legal, since the current legislation does not provide for such a possibility.

At the same time, when considering other cases, some courts indicated that the absence of a new photograph in a passport is not an obstacle to determining the identity or citizenship of a certain person, and therefore the owners of outdated certificates could demand a pension in connection with achieving a certain age.

Reasons for replacing the document

A person who wants to change his current identity card to a version from the distant past considers his current citizenship illegitimate. The desire to return the passport and citizenship of the USSR is not stopped by the expected difficulties
. Fulfilling your plans may be associated with a number of unpleasant problems:

forms with original watermarks are not issued;
currently there is no authorized body with the right to affix stamps;
ordering one copy will cost more than 2021 rubles.

Question: Is the USSR passport valid or not?

Answer: yes, it is still valid.

Registration of Soviet citizenship may be limited to obtaining a certificate about it from the migration service. To do this, you must write a corresponding application requesting extradition, and provide detailed information about yourself indicating your last name, first name, patronymic, year of birth, place of residence
. In addition, the following written explanations will be required. Before receiving a USSR passport, make sure you have completed all the following points.

Are there papers with legal force confirming Russian citizenship?
Are there regulations that prove that the applicant is a citizen of the Soviet Union.
Was an application for renunciation of USSR citizenship submitted?
Was it possible to obtain Russian citizenship or to renounce it?

Along with the application, you will have to present all supporting certificates with copies of the first and second pages of the ID card currently used.

The motivation for people dreaming of changing their passport is also nostalgia for a broken country. The issue of returning the Soviet-era passport regime has become urgent for them. Distinctive features of the outdated identity card, which are still attractive and make you want to make a USSR passport:

manually entered personal data. They were filled out in two languages, Russian and the language of the republic of which the person was a resident;
information on the main page was located vertically;
The pages and cover were fastened with ordinary paper clips;
The passport was not replaced upon reaching 25 and 45 years of age. At this age, a new photograph was pasted;
the pages contained detailed information about children, blood type, registration, and marital status.

Despite global changes in all spheres of life and the collapse of the country, not everyone is ready to part with what has become a dear and fundamental document from the times of the Union of former republics.

If the person is registered in another region, a request is sent to the state authorities of the Ministry of Internal Affairs with instructions to provide all available registration addresses and dates of stay of the citizen (if there are several of them).

Stages of returning an ID

There are people who consider Russian citizenship to be illegitimate, and because of this they decide to return their USSR-era passport. Replacement involves some difficulties. For example, a document with original watermarks is now not issued, and the cost of one copy is approximately seven thousand rubles.

There is another problem: the state inspection of the Soviet Union does not work, which means there is no body authorized to put a stamp. You can obtain a certificate confirming Soviet citizenship by sending a request to the migration inspection. The form indicates:

Full Name;
actual place of residence;
Date of Birth;
for what reason was previously registered a passport proving citizenship of the Russian Federation;
whether the person was a subject of the Soviet Union and what acts indicate this;
whether the application for withdrawal from USSR citizenship was completed in accordance with the accepted form;
whether they registered Russian citizenship or left the list of nationals of the country.

To speed up the process, experts advise attaching the necessary certificates and certificates to the application. The list of required documentation includes copies of the 1st and 2nd pages of the Russian passport.

The certificate will be permanent or temporary

The documents of the Soviet state stopped being replaced back in 2021, but not everyone wanted to make a replacement and are still using these passports to this day. There are no restrictive rules for the use of this option and no new rules are planned to come into force in the near future
. Recently, a draft was submitted for consideration allowing the removal of the restriction on the period of application of the certificates of Union citizens in the 2021 version. The law equates the validity period of the identity card of Russia and the Soviet state.

Difficulties of registration

Detailed explanations of why mass issuance of USSR passports cannot be carried out were provided by the USSR Government in its letter No. 1.043, published on March 18, 2021.

In accordance with the current laws of the USSR, those citizens who at one time accepted Russian passports violated the norms prescribed in Article 33 of the USSR Constitution, since they received a legal connection with the Russian authorities and cannot enjoy various rights inherent in citizens of the USSR, being violators of the laws.

The reason in this case is not that the Government of the USSR is preventing such implementation, but that the implementation of this procedure is being hindered by foreign authorities, chosen by the unfaithful citizens of the USSR themselves, who illegally accepted the citizenship of another state.

Thus, according to the laws, citizens of the USSR who have accepted the citizenship of another state, thereby violating the norms of the Constitution, cannot receive a USSR passport or other documents until they surrender their foreign passports at the place of receipt, and also eliminate other facts of violation Soviet legislation.

Persons who can obtain citizenship through a simplified procedure

There are a lot of former Soviet citizens who have a special cultural and historical connection with Russia, but due to the collapse of the Soviet Union they live outside its borders. Russia legally provides for a simplified system of obtaining citizenship for those born in the USSR, although not only they have the right to a simplified procedure.

Other categories of applicants for Russian citizenship include:

foreigners who have at least one parent or child who is a citizen of the Russian Federation;
had Union citizenship and did not obtain it in another state;
were born on the territory of the RSFSR;
carry out business activities in the Russian Federation;
have been investors in Russian enterprises for at least 3 years;
persons who have relatives who are citizens of the Russian Federation;
persons whose significant part of their lives is connected with the Soviet Union, that is, the state provides a simplified opportunity to obtain Russian citizenship for descendants of the USSR.

If you have relatives in Russia, or you yourself were a citizen of the Soviet Union, we advise you to study how it happens

Details of obtaining a temporary USSR passport in 2021

In order to legally return to the USSR and obtain a state passport of this country, you need to provide a certain list of documents provided for by the established rules.

The procedure for obtaining a temporary passport in this case will look like this:

An application form is sent to the relevant government agencies.
If any claims are made against a citizen by government bodies of Russia, the address is added to the existing ones or another form of document No. 3 is used.
After the response to the application in Form No. 3 is received, you will need to send gratitude in Form No. 4.
The existing document is presented in person against signature or sent by registered mail with notification of the application form from the folder “Application based on a certificate of citizenship to the authorities of the Russian Federation.”
Once all documents have been sent, any correspondence with Russian government authorities can be stopped.

After returning to the USSR, the citizen receives a notification from the state bodies of the Russian Federation about the fact of transfer to the jurisdiction of the USSR, as well as a notification from these organizations about the refusal to pay taxes and loans, perform military service and fulfill other obligations.

Also, various resource, territorial, financial, housing or legal requirements may be imposed on the Russian government on the basis of an international audit and laws adopted by the USSR Government.

Why can they refuse?

According to Article 16 of the Law “On Citizenship of the Russian Federation”, the grounds for refusal to grant citizenship may be:

submission of false information or forged documents;
advocating for a violent change in the constitutional system of the Russian Federation;
participation in military conflicts against the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation;
presence of an outstanding criminal record;
pursuit by law enforcement agencies;
restrictions on entry into Russia;
registration of a Russian passport using a stolen or counterfeit document.

Legitimate way through Sberbank

If necessary, you can register your own account with Sberbank based on your existing USSR passport. It is worth noting that in the vast majority of cases, employees of a banking organization are faced with slight bewilderment when they are asked to register an account using a USSR passport, and therefore they may be refused.

In such a situation, you can send an official complaint to the management of the selected department or simply contact another department, since a corresponding Savings account can be opened on the basis of a USSR passport.

In accordance with the decrees adopted by the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, a passport of a citizen of the USSR, made in accordance with the 1974 model, retains its legal force regardless of which authorities the citizen applies to on the territory of Russia, if photographs are appropriately pasted into it when a person reaches 25 and 45 years of age.

Thus, obtaining a USSR passport today does not cause any difficulties and is a fairly simple procedure that can be carried out by anyone. At the same time, the document, drawn up in accordance with the 2021 model, retains its legal force to this day, and therefore it can be used in any public or private institutions in Russia.

Any attempts to refuse to implement this requirement are unlawful and can be appealed, and this applies not only to citizens who continue to use USSR passports since 2021, but also to those who decided to issue themselves a new document in accordance with the specified sample in our time .

How to get a USSR passport in 2021: valid or not, what does it give

Karina Botsulyak 11/26/2021 Updated: 03/4/2021

The USSR passport, unlike the Union itself, is more alive than all living things. Surprisingly, ID cards from the USSR can still be used and received today

. This will create legal and organizational difficulties, but technically it is possible, which means you can legally become citizens of the notorious Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

1 Is the passport of a citizen of the USSR valid or not?
2 Is it possible to get a USSR passport in 2021
3 Why is a USSR passport needed in 2021?
4 What does a passport give?
5 Where can I get a USSR passport
6 How to get a USSR passport in 2021 in Russia
7 Cost of a USSR passport

Is the passport of a citizen of the USSR valid or not?

With the collapse of the Union, new states arose in its former territories, and Russia became its legal successor. In the Russian Federation, there are residents of councils who, for various reasons, did not take advantage of the right of replacement until 2021, continuing to use documents of the USSR, and, according to the legislation of the Russian Federation, this is not considered a violation, because they still have legal force, i.e.

. are valid.

The issuance of new papers to replace old ones was voluntary; current Russians could receive documents of the Russian Federation standard, or they could continue to use Soviet ones. Only citizens of the USSR born before 2021 have this right - then at the time of the start of passport reform they managed to paste both photographs: at 25 and 45 years old

. Otherwise, when they reached that age, without pasting in photos, the documents lost their validity and, like it or not, they had to change them to Russian ones.

The migration service authorities of the Russian Federation in every possible way refused and refuse to deal with Soviet identity cards, do not paste in photos or put down marks, referring to the provisions of the passport law and claiming that such actions are not provided for by Russian legislation.

However, the lack of a current photo was not an obstacle to personal identification.

People trying to regain USSR citizenship do so under various pretexts: they are nostalgic for the past or, due to political views, consider Russian documents illegitimate. In turn, the so-called Government of the USSR published a letter on March 18 of this year in which it explained the lack of mass issuance of Soviet passports as a violation of the law by Russian citizens
. Allegedly, accepting Russian citizenship is a violation of the USSR Constitution and a criminal connection with the Russian authorities, but this can be corrected by renouncing Russian citizenship and re-entering Soviet citizenship.

Is the procedure legal?

The replacement of Soviet country passports ended in 2004. Despite this, not all residents of the country have done this to this day. There are no restrictions on the use of old ID cards and are not planned. The validity periods of passports from both periods are equal by law.

In this case, it is necessary to take into account the possibility of problems arising when carrying out the following actions:

purchasing plane and train tickets;
submitting documents for retirement;
registration of benefits;
conclusion of contracts;
employment.

If, taking into account all the listed difficulties, a citizen has firmly decided to restore his USSR passport, attempts to refuse him are illegal and unacceptable. There is not a single legal act that gives the right to ban the use of a Soviet-era ID card.

Is it possible to get a USSR passport in 2021

Technically, obtaining a Union ID instead of a Russian passport is possible, but is associated with a number of difficulties.

The first step is to order a printout of the forms from the Federal State Unitary Enterprise Gosznak, placing an order with a circulation of more than 2021 copies. Orders for smaller quantities are not considered by the company.
USSR stamps will also have to be cast yourself. Such happiness will result in approximately 2,021 rubles apiece.
The third and main difficulty is that there will be no one to sign the passport and put a stamp on it, since the Russian Migration Service does not deal with this, and the USSR Passport and Visa Service has long ago resigned.

However, the Russian Federal Migration Service issues certificates confirming Soviet citizenship. You can get one at any territorial department of the department by writing an application for issuance, which indicates:

Grounds for acquiring Russian citizenship;
documents confirming the fact that the applicant is a citizen of the USSR (papers are not processed for a birth certificate, but thanks to it, residents of the former republics of the Union can obtain a residence permit in Russia in a simplified manner);
whether an application to renounce Soviet citizenship was submitted in the prescribed form;
whether the applicant renounced Russian citizenship.

Along with the application, you must provide a photo of all pages of your current identification document.

Legality of forced change of passports

The presence of a Russian passport by a citizen is not proof of citizenship. The only supporting document is a birth certificate.

. A passport can be a proof of citizenship only if it has a special stamp.

In a rule-of-law state, consideration of the issue of granting citizenship to an applicant occurs upon his written request. It is impossible to force a citizen to change his passport from one state to another. This is a violation of human rights and freedoms. That is, no government has legal grounds to deprive a person of his existing citizenship and make him a citizen of another country. According to international law, the fact of such a violation during the forced change of USSR passports to Russian Federation passports turned former citizens of the USSR into violators of USSR legislation.

Why is a USSR passport needed in 2021?

A document from the Soviet Union is unlikely to be used when crossing the border, but there is no exact data on the legal attitude of other states to such identity cards. In addition, difficulties may arise with obtaining a loan from a commercial bank, with employment, and property difficulties, since Soviet documents are not accepted in a number of organizations, and they are treated with skepticism at best.

Besides the fact that with such papers a person will have to stay exclusively in Russia and not take out loans, there are also very significant advantages. After becoming a USSR citizen, a person is exempt from paying taxes, loan obligations, performing compulsory military service and other civil duties provided for by law.
. Since there is no state as such to which all of the above should go, there is no one to give them to. Another question is how to interact with government bodies of the Russian Federation...

In addition, theoretically, with such a passport you can open a savings account at Sberbank, however, due to too few holders of Soviet passports, banking services may be refused. In this case, you can send a formal complaint to the bank management or try contacting another branch.

What problems await the owner of a new Soviet passport?

Without a real Russian identity document, the owner may face the following difficulties:

With the registration of a pension. This is the simplest problem, the one most often solved. But to settle it, you will have to hire a lawyer, contact a notary, look for witnesses, that is, spend a lot of time and money. This is the only way to prove in court that this particular person worked in the organizations indicated in the work book, paid taxes and has the right to a pension.
With the purchase of long-distance train and plane tickets. Nothing can be changed here; they are sold only if you have a valid document from the Russian Federation.
With the sale and purchase of real estate, cars. A valid passport is also required for paperwork. There is an option to conduct a transaction by proxy, but there are also pitfalls here.

More on the topic Last digits in passport similar people

1. Residence at the place of stay or at the place of residence in the residential premises of a citizen of the Russian Federation who is required to have a citizen’s identity document (passport), without a citizen’s identity document (passport), or with an invalid citizen’s identity document (passport), shall entail the imposition of an administrative fine in the amount of two thousand to three thousand rubles. 2. The violation provided for in Part 1 of this article, committed in the federal city of Moscow or St. Petersburg, entails the imposition of an administrative fine in the amount of three thousand to five thousand rubles.

What does a passport give?

Having the appropriate paper in your pocket, you can make a sharp turn back almost 30 years, become heroes of an alternative reality, turning from “born in the USSR” into Soviet citizens.

The USSR passport is completely different from the Russian ones:

The pages had a vertical orientation;
information was entered manually in 2 languages: Russian and the official language of a specific republic that is part of the Union;
upon reaching the ages of 25 and 45, it was necessary to paste in a photo, which gave the right not to change the passport, but to keep the old one;
on the pages of the document there were special pages where one could indicate the blood type and Rh factor, information about children, registration and other data.

As a rule, the pages were held together with ordinary metal clips, which darkened over time, leaving marks on the paper. In the 21st century this seems too simple a method, but this was one of the features of Soviet passports.

Where can I get a USSR passport?

The Federal Migration Service of the Russian Federation is an agency where it is possible to obtain a USSR passport instead of a Russian passport in 2021 if you have the necessary package of documents.

The list of organizations that can help in obtaining a Soviet identity card is limited to one line, and it is likely that employees will not immediately understand the essence of the request - they do not often have to provide such services.

If there is a need to replace Soviet documents with a Russian passport, you can contact the territorial branch of the FMS, MFC. The employees will tell you what package of papers will need to be prepared, indicate the amount of the state duty, and will probably issue a fine for late replacement of documents.

Places to visit

Where can I get Russian identity cards? The USSR passport is exchanged in the same place as a regular one. Which authorities are invited to contact the population? Everyone can choose for themselves. But the list of possible options includes:

MFC;
departments of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which replace migration services;
The GosGosuslugi portal will not be able to quickly submit an application. After all, this process deserves special attention due to registration. Therefore, most often people exchange their old passport (USSR) at the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Previously, this was done by the Federal Migration Service, but more recently such bodies were abolished.

How to get a USSR passport in 2021 in Russia

The procedure for returning to the country of the Soviets is as follows:

The completed application on a special form is sent to the territorial office of the migration service. Form No. 3 must be completed.
Immediately after receiving the results of reviewing the form, a thank you note is sent using Form No. 4. This will make the application process somewhat faster.
The passport that the applicant is currently using must be brought to the FMS office and submitted for signature.
After sending the package of necessary documents, you should expect a response from government agencies that will confirm the citizen’s exit from the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation and transition to the jurisdiction of the Soviet Union. After this, the passport can be obtained in Moscow or another city.

It is difficult to clarify the expected deadlines for submitting papers, because obtaining a USSR passport in 2021 is not easy. They may differ in each individual case.

How Soviet people became citizens of the Russian Federation

What the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation writes on the issue of legal succession and transfer of powers between the USSR, the RSFSR and the Russian Federation: The USSR ceased to exist as a result of the signing of the Agreement on the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States on December 8, 1991. The legality of this decision was confirmed by Resolution of the Supreme Council of the RSFSR No. 2014-1 of December 12, 1991 and the Protocol to the Agreement of December 21, 1991. According to international law, the Russian Federation has been the legal successor of the USSR since that time.

What happened after the collapse of the Soviet Union, how ordinary residents of the new Russia received Russian citizenship in 1991:

during the mass transition, no one filled out applications to renounce the USSR;
people were asked to hand over their previous, Soviet passport to receive a new Russian passport;
After some time, we all received Russian passports and officially became Russians.

Most people became citizens of the Union by birthright and remain so to this day. Belonging to the USSR provides a number of advantages, in particular, it is possible to join the Russian Federation in a simplified manner.

USSR passport cost

Since obtaining a USSR passport is not among the regular services provided by government agencies of the Russian Federation, there is no state duty for this procedure. However, we have already written that the cost of forms and stamps required to obtain a full-fledged passport document of the 2021 model will have to be covered personally

. And the amount is quite large - 2021 rubles per copy, and besides, fulfilling such an order is time-consuming.

Please note that the information presented on the site may be out of date due to the constant updating of Russian legislation.

How to acquire Russian citizenship

There are many foreign citizens who want to live in Russia, so the country’s legislation provides for two procedures for obtaining citizenship - general and simplified. This differentiation is due to the fact that the Russian Federation, like any civilized state, is interested in new citizens, but above all in those who have highly professional skills, a special cultural connection, etc.

For all others, there is a general procedure for admission to citizenship, which is associated with a number of requirements, significant financial costs and takes longer.